Free SMS hotline for GBV victims launches on Women’s Day

With gender-based violence and femicide having reached crisis levels in SA, three organisations are doing their best to help abused women.

The Trust for Community Outreach and Education, Commercial, Stevedoring, Agriculture & Allied Worker Union, and Inyanda National Land Movement, in a virtual and “offline” event, launched the free SMS helpline to fight the scourge.

The new helpline will benefit women in the Eastern Cape and the Western Cape.

The launch took place at Zanozuko Primary School in Tshabo village, Berlin at the weekend. It was launched as part of Women's Day celebrations.

In a joint statement, the organisations said the lockdown period had “certainly worsened gender-based violence and femicide against women and children”.

“During this [lockdown] period many households are dealing with many challenges and constraints linked to poverty — food insecurity, basic food price increase, unemployment, the worst economic crisis, a strained health system and evictions are just a few of the challenges at the interface of the society, especially for the rural poor.

“GBV has become more prevalent to already vulnerable groups in the communities. Marginalised groups such as rural women, farm worker women and LGBTQI communities have increasingly become the targets of ruthless violent attacks, rapes and killings.”

President Cyril Ramaphosa and activists have condemned gender-based violence and femicide, describing it as a blight on SA.

The organisations said many rural communities have no shelters, “safe houses”, support networks or decent livelihood possibilities on hand. The launch included pre-recorded videos of car parades in Robertson, street drama and poetry with youth in Zolani, both from the Western Cape.

There were also “speak-outs” from GBV survivors, the issuing out of pamphlets and conversations with communities in the two provinces where the helpline debuted.

“The SMS helpline is aimed at building and enhancing the work on the ground to support GBV victims and survivors.

“Many of the rural and farm worker women do not have access to smartphones which require connectivity of a different level.

“SMS is one of the dominant ways of communication used by rural communities. This helpline will assist in reporting and providing support to distressed women who are under lockdown and in CV19-stressed relationships or abusive relationships, and to those who know of someone impacted by GBV.”

The objective of the campaign is to provide support to these communities. To access the SMS Helpline: SMS GBV + province (eg. GBV EC) to 43866, free of charge.